


Ever Stalwart

by mattdamon



Category: True Grit (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-23
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2019-01-21 16:23:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12461484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mattdamon/pseuds/mattdamon
Summary: She woke up missing an arm and then, something else.





	Ever Stalwart

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't sleep so I wrote this. This is bound to be a mess but I thought I would hash this out at 2am and see how it goes.

     When I was just fourteen years of age, I thought I knew the world like the back of my own hand. I thought revenge had no consequence. I thought nothing could touch me because I was a child. I thought, when we left the poor Texas Ranger on the cliffside, that I would see him again. I was wrong on all accounts.  
     In writing my original account of events, a part of my story is partly false. I insinuated that Mr. LaBoeuf, might in fact, still be alive. But I’ve known his fate since the first morning I woke up with one arm. When I woke up, it felt like a great fog was over the room. Beside me, sat the Marshall, Rooster Cogburn. I felt cold, and as I reached up to pull up my covers, that was when I realized I was one arm short. I did not cry but only stared.  
     “By the time we got to Fort Smith, your arm had turned black,” Rooster said, dryly. “Doctor said you are lucky to be alive.”  
      _Alive._ My thoughts quickly turned to the cliffside. “Where is Mister LaBoeuf? Surely, you have sent somebody to fetch him. His wounds-”  
     “Somebody has already collected him.”  
     “Has he returned to Texas already then?” I inquired. Marshall Cogburn opened his mouth, as if he were ready to say something grim. His sad eye and the silence in the room told me everything I needed to know. I did not cry over my arm. But, I felt tears brim my eyes at the loss of the texas ranger.  
     “By the time help reached him, he had succumb to his wounds. In truth, LaBoeuf and I knew it would happen.” He took a swig of that wretched whiskey.  
     I was at a loss of words. I managed to ask what he meant by that.  
     “He was bleeding out. You were bit by a poisonous snake. There was one horse and one abled person to help,” Another swig of whiskey. “Only one was going to survive and he knew it. He chose you.”  
     Him saying this was like a punch in the stomach. I felt my insides twist as his words sank deep into me. I remembered that last moment i had with him as he lifted me onto Little Blackie. I remembered his sad smile, his clear blue eyes shining in the winter sun. I remembered that feeling I had. My hands clutched onto his jacket. We couldn’t leave him. _I could not leave this man._ But, that look he gave me... his gentle smile told me that I would be safe. As I looked at him, for what I would remember as my last parting glance, I remembered feeling an unconditional love for him. I did not know what love meant, and perhaps I still do not know because he was and always will be the only person I felt that way for. As we rode away, I heard him shout, “Ever Stalwart.”  
     “ _Ever stalwart_ ,” I whispered, as i recalled this event. Rooster Cogburn grunted.  
     “Ever stalwart indeed,” he slurred. “But, I do not think I will ever say another bad thing about a texas ranger ever again.”  
     With that, he stood and left. I never did see Rooster again either. I thought of my friends often. I thought of Rooster and his endless supply of whiskey and his drunken singing on bitter, winter mornings. I thought of LaBoeuf and that kiss he never stole and how his presence that was as warm and comforting as our evening fires.  
     I never knew much of the world. But, what I did know a man with true grit when I saw one.


End file.
